Markets continue rally; Sensex up 127.5 pts

Markets continued last week's rally on back of continued buying by investors. Sensex revisited 19,000 levels before ending at 18,943.14 pts up by 0.68% and Nifty is at 5687.25 up by 0.58 %. BSE Mid-cap stood at 6,749.81up by 28.25 points and BSE S-cap stood at 8,011.63 up by 10.00 points.

The top gainers on BSE are Tata Motors up 3.25% at Rs 1220.30, Bharti Airtel gaining 2.57%, L&T up 2.56%, Reliance Infra up 1.76% and Maruti up 1.69%. The top losers on Sensex are JP Associates down by 2.06%, RCOM down by 1.5%, Sterlite Industries down by 0.89%, Infosys down by 0.71% and DLF down by 0.66%.

The BSE Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note. BSE sectoral gainer are Auto up by 1.52%, CG by 1.27% and Bankex by 1.21%. BSE sectoral losers are HC down by 1.17%, Realty down by 0.56% and IT by 0.29%.

The breadth of the market is positive with 1251 advancing stocks and 1734 declining stocks.

Sensex zooms by over 400 points...Nifty tops 6560

The bulls had an excellent day on Friday, taking inspiration from Dhoni & Co. after they pulled off a splendid win over defending champions Australia in Ahmedabad last night. The Indian market extended its rally to a fourth straight trading session on Friday, ending the week with smart gains.

Today’s rally was led by IT heavyweights like Infosys, TCS and Wipro after reports stated that Nasscom has requested the Centre to extend the Software Technology Parks of India scheme for one year. IT stocks also received a boost following strong results from Oracle and Accenture.

Telecom, Banking and Realty stocks were among the other big gainers. Technically, after breaching the 50 DMA yesterday, the NSE Nifty jumped started its upswing today, inching closer to the 200DMA which is placed at 5684 levels.

"The undertone was dictated by persistently healthy gains in global equities this week, notwithstanding a series of ongoing concerns.  Also, fund inflows from both - overseas as well as domestic institutions have been pretty good in the past few days. In addition, the Government has shown signs of gradually pushing through some key pending reforms," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research (India Private Clients) - IIFL.

The BSE Sensex ended at 18,815 gaining 465 points. It had earlier touched a day's high of 18,858 and a day's low of 18,480. It opened at 18,480. While, the NSE Nifty rose 132 points to close at 5,654.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the BSE IT index was the top gainer, the index gained 4% followed by BSE Teck index adding 3.5%, while, BSE Banking index gained 2.8%. BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1%, while the BSE Small-Cap index added 1%.

The European markets were trading with positive bias, the FTSE index was up 0.7%, CAC index was up 0.5% and DAX index was up 0.8%.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Fintech, Corp Bank, PFC and Areva. On the other hand, losers included DB Realty, Jubilant Life, Pantaloon and IndusInd Bank.

Markets end higher; auto shares in top gear

Markets closed in the green after three consecutive days of losses buoyed by gains in auto and realty shares. However, investors continue to remain watchful of the developments in west Asia. The Nifty opened at 5,391 and scaled to a high of 5,428 followed by positive cues from the Asian peers as radiation concerns from Japan eased. The S&P CNX Nifty held on to the gains and closed up 49 points, at 5414 and the benchmark Sensex advanced 149 points, at 17,988. In west Asia, coalition forces renewed air strikes on Libya, intensifying the skirmish and stoking fears of oil supply. Brent Crude fell 0.5% at 114.63, below $115 mark. Back in India, the government introduced a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill into parliament today but the opposition immediately threatened adjournment on back of cash-for-votes scandal.                                                                  n India markets rallied on account of value buying by (FIIs) Foreign Institutional Investors in selective stocks. Gopal Agrawal, Head Equity and Deputy CIO, Mirae Asset Global Investments said, "after witnessing a correction of almost 15% from recent highs, values started emerging in many individual stocks on the back of significant earnings growth visibility and long term prospects." FIIs have been net buyers of $320 million in Indian equities in March so far. Even technical charts indicate bounce back in the near term. Kunal Bothra, Technical Analyst, LKP Securities said "the Nifty is due for sharp bounce back; the markets have absorbed all the bad news in the last few weeks, which can be a positive trigger for the market." Agarwal recommends investors to focus on quality stocks with reasonable valuations which are thrown in large numbers due to market volatility. All the sectoral indices ended in the green. BSE Realty and Auto shares were the top sectoral gainers, the indices were up 2.2% and 1.5% each. From the realty space, Anant Raj Industries was the top gainer, up 7.5%, followed by Phoenix Mills, up 4.8%, Mahindra Lifespace gained 3.7% and DLF advanced 3.2%. Auto shares were in the top gear, Maruti Suzuki climbed 3.5%, Ashok Leyland advanced  1.8% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up 1.7%. Top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, up 2.7%, JP Associates advanced 2.1% and HDFC zoomed 1.7%. Reliance Industries gained 1.1% after declining 5.4% in the past three days. Only four components on the Sensex ended in the red, Jindal Steel and TCS declined 0.3% each, ICICI Bank was off 0.2%, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Auto ended flat. Broader markets also ended in the green, the midcap and small cap indices were up 0.8% and 0.5% each. Market breadth was positive, 1555 stocks advanced for 1294 stocks which declined.

Sensex slips 0.2 pc as Libya, oil worries weigh

Indian markets edged 0.2 percent lower in a choppy trading session on Monday as an escalating Libyan crisis and firm oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.

Oil prices rose by more than 1 percent on Monday as a United Nations mandated wave of air strikes on Libya and proliferating unrest in the Middle East fanned concerns about oil supply from the region.

The 30-share BSE index closed 0.22 percent, or 39.76 points, lower at 17,918.59 points, with 17 of its components declining. It rose as much as 0.7 percent early.

"People are cautious. The situation in Libya is worsening and all eyes are on oil prices. Let us see how the situation unfolds," said Deven Choksey, managing director and CEO of KR Choksey Shares.

The benchmark index is already down 13 percent year-to-date, making it one of the worst performing major markets in 2011.

The broader MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than Japan is down 4.1 percent in 2011, while MSCI's emerging markets index has shed 3.7 percent in the period.

Foreign funds have pulled out $1.8 billon from Indian equities since the start of the year up to March 17, pestered by sticky inflation.

Amongst the BRIC nations, Indian witnessed highest net redemption at $183 million in the week to March 16, fund tracker EPFR said.

Global equity funds at large faced outflows in that week as the Japan disaster combined with a bloody revolt in Libya, protests in Bahrain and the downgrading of Portuguese debt undermined investor appetite.

Nifty ends at 5450; Japan nuclear crisis weighs

Indian markets ended in the negative territory Tuesday in line with global peers as leakage of harmful radiation from Japan's nuclear plants weighed sentiments.

The radiation levels in Japan have increased high enough to harm humans after explosion at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which was crippled after the devastating earthquake and tsunami last week, said news reports.

Investors were also wary ahead of Reserve Bank of India's meet Thursday. The central bank is likely to hike rates to curb inflation which rose to 8.31 per cent in February against 8.23 in January.

Indian market opened with a gap-down in line with peers but buying activity in heavy-weight Reliance ind helped the benchmarks to pare some of the intra-day losses.

"Gross refining margins are expected to be good around $11.8 for this quarter and there's buzz of advance tax payment as well," said, Anita Gandhi, whole time director, .

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended at 18167.64, down 271.84 points or 1.47 per cent. The 30-share index touched a low of 17920.55 and high of 18326.33 intraday.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty closed at 5449.65, down 81.85 points or 1.48 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 5373.65 and high of 5497.85 intra-day.

"Volatility will continue for next few sessions due to crisis in Japan. There are concerns of harmful radiation spreading further and if Japanese funds start selling actively then it will put some pressure on the market. Market will also keenly await RBI's meet outcome. 5400 looks like a good support and the Nifty may hold on to it," she added.

BSE Midcap Index was down 1.43 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.163 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index fell 3.14 per cent, BSE Auto Index declined 2.03 per cent and BSE Metal Index was down 2.02 per cent. BSE Oil&gas Index was up 0.32 per cent.

Nifty ends at 5450; Japan nuclear crisis weighs

Indian markets ended in the negative territory Tuesday in line with global peers as leakage of harmful radiation from Japan's nuclear plants weighed sentiments.

The radiation levels in Japan have increased high enough to harm humans after explosion at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which was crippled after the devastating earthquake and tsunami last week, said news reports.

Investors were also wary ahead of Reserve Bank of India's meet Thursday. The central bank is likely to hike rates to curb inflation which rose to 8.31 per cent in February against 8.23 in January.

Indian market opened with a gap-down in line with peers but buying activity in heavy-weight Reliance ind helped the benchmarks to pare some of the intra-day losses.

"Gross refining margins are expected to be good around $11.8 for this quarter and there's buzz of advance tax payment as well," said, Anita Gandhi, whole time director, .

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended at 18167.64, down 271.84 points or 1.47 per cent. The 30-share index touched a low of 17920.55 and high of 18326.33 intraday.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty closed at 5449.65, down 81.85 points or 1.48 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 5373.65 and high of 5497.85 intra-day.

"Volatility will continue for next few sessions due to crisis in Japan. There are concerns of harmful radiation spreading further and if Japanese funds start selling actively then it will put some pressure on the market. Market will also keenly await RBI's meet outcome. 5400 looks like a good support and the Nifty may hold on to it," she added.

BSE Midcap Index was down 1.43 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.163 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Realty Index fell 3.14 per cent, BSE Auto Index declined 2.03 per cent and BSE Metal Index was down 2.02 per cent. BSE Oil&gas Index was up 0.32 per cent.

Sensex ends lower on Japan quake, economic woes

Indian markets pared some off the intra-day losses and ended near support levels Friday reacting to earthquake and tsunami waves in Japan, weak US economic data and protests in the middle-east.

An earthquake of magnitude 8.9, worst in 140 years, struck northern coast of Japan triggering Tsunami waves as high as 10 meters. Nuclear reactors and airports were affected as the waves damaged everything that came in their way.

According to experts, apart from sentimental knee-jerk reaction, Indian markets will not be affected by the tragedy in Japan.

?Does it make any difference to Indian economy? I do not think so. Is it hitting sentiment in the market today? Absolutely, the markets moved down. But I do not think people can change their investment decisions in India because of this tragedy in Japan,? said Adrian Mowat , MD & Chief EM Strategist, JP Morgan to ET Now.

The tremors hit global markets badly which were already under pressure on economic concerns. Indian markets had opened in the red reacting to weekly jobless claims in the US which increased to 397000. Trade deficit also worsened more than expected to $46.3 billion.

Public unrest in the middle-east also kept the investors jittery. Demonstrators had planned protests in the Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh for political reforms.

There was some relief back home as January IIP data turned out to be better-than-expected. India?s Industrial Output in January grew at 3.7 per cent against 2.5 per cent in December.

?With the base effect impacting the numbers, Jan industrial output remained subdued but came in higher than ours and consensus expectations (Citi 2.8%; Consensus 2.9%).

Given the continuation of the high base effect in the coming quarter (growth averaged 15%), we except the numbers to remain in low single-digits,? said Rohini Malkani, Economist, Citi India.

?We thus maintain our view of the RBI hiking by an additional 50bps in 2011 with a 25bps hike likely in its review next week and a further 50bps 2012,? she added.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he was not satisfied with the pace of expansion of India's industrial output.

National Stock Exchange?s Nifty ended at 5445.45, down 48.95 points or 0.89 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 5411.55 and high of 5502.70 in today?s trade.

Bombay Stock Exchange?s Sensex closed at 18174.09, down 153.89 points or 0.84 per cent. The 30-share index touched a low of 18063.29 and high of 18368.43 intraday.

BSE Midcap Index was down 1.07 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index declined 1.12 per cent.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index fell 1.91 per cent lower, BSE IT Index slipped 1.49 per cent and BSE Power Index was down 1.49 per cent. BSE Oil&gas Index was up 0.81 per cent and BSE FMCG Index was up 0.03 per cent.